


Relics

by BookishSimon



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Angst, Deaf, Fluff, Gay, Hearing Impaired, HoH, M/M, mlm, pynch - Freeform, trc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 11:51:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17918255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookishSimon/pseuds/BookishSimon
Summary: Adam still has to adjust to his new hearing loss. Emotions and dreams ensue. (By the way, I am also hearing impaired. All descriptions are based on personal experience - please don't take offense at this fic, they're just things from my daily life when I first started losing my hearing. Minus the magical hearing aids.)





	Relics

I would always carry my father with me. If not mentally, then at the very least physically. That realization hit me hard. I was sitting in the front row of the class. If I wanted to, I could reach out and adjust Mrs. Cardelia’s laptop without even rising from my chair. I was that close. And yet, I couldn’t hear shit. No. That wasn’t quite right. I could hear things. I just couldn’t understand anything. It was all gibberish. I was standing in the eye of a tornado of bees, all of them fluttering and buzzing and driving their stingers into my temples.

I wrapped my hand around the top of my pencil and squeezed. The sharp graphite pressed into my skin, almost hard enough to draw blood. It hurt. I breathed out. Slowly, in through the nose and out through the mouth, like Ronan had taught me. Mrs. Cardelia wrote something on the board. Her piece of chalk moved without making a sound.

“So miss here is the bell’s liquor,” she said. I couldn’t help but interpret the tiny smile around her lips as mocking. I looked at what she’d drawn on the board. Lining. So this here is the cell’s lining. That was what she’d said. Probably. Maybe not. Maybe she’d said ‘Adam Parrish, you and your scholarship are fucked and I hate you.’ Who knew?

Mrs. Cardelia’s handwriting suddenly became blurry. I through to calm my breathing, but my efforts were in vain. I still felt like I was going to cry.

“Excuse me. Can I go to the bathroom?”

The second the words left my lips, I knew that I’d said them way too loud. Someone at the back of the class giggled. Mrs. Cardelia frowned at me. 

“Sure. Just turn down the volume a bit, Parrish.”

I barely managed to squeeze ‘thanks’ out of my throat in a raw whisper before I burst through the doors of the classroom. It was only when I felt the cold air drying the salty trails of tears on my cheeks that I realized I’d already started crying. Fuck. Ronan was at the barns. Of course he was. Both his past and his personality anchored him to this place like a ship to a shore. If the barns ever burned down, he would dream up a blanket and sleep in the ashes for the rest of his life. 

The cruel smile around his lips fell the second he saw me enter. I said nothing. I couldn’t. I knew that the volume would be all wrong if I did. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my face into his shirt. It smelled like dust, hay and sweat. It smelled like Ronan. Like home. Despite everything, I smiled.

“What’s wrong?” Ronan asked, gently placing his hand on the back of my head. I mumbled something into the fabric of his shirt. Even I wasn’t entirely sure what it was.

“What?”

I shrugged, painfully aware of the small, dark pinpricks that had darkened the fabric of Ronan’s shirt. My tears had infected him. 

“All right,” Ronan said. “Let’s lie down for a while.”

I nodded and let myself fall on the couch. My spine cracked like a whip, so loud and clear even I could hear it. Unlike the teachers at Aglionby. My scholarship was ruined. Because of my dad. Because of me. Ronan lied down next to me and started petting my hair. My shoulders relaxed. 

“Thanks,” I whispered. I still didn’t trust my voice not to sound like a car horn. Ronan hummed in response. 

“It’ll be all right,” he said.

I laughed bitterly. 

“You may be a dreamer, but you’re not a telepath.”

Ronan grinned. “Who knows? Don’t underestimate me, Parrish.” 

I gently kicked him. Ronan laughed and shook his head. Then his expression darkened.

“Seriously, Adam. What’s wrong?”

I sighed. “My ears,” I admitted. “My ears are…wrong. About everything.”

To my surprise, Ronan’s face lit up. “Nice timing,” he said. “Wait here.”

I heard his footsteps thunder up the stairs. He was holding something in his hand when he came down again. I recognized it immediately. I’d already done a lot of research into this whole thing. And I knew that I wouldn’t be able to afford the thing in his hand for a million years.

“It’s not perfect yet. You’ll have to let me know if you want any improvements or extra features.”

He handed me the hearing aid and stepped back. I looked at it in wonder. I clumsily pushed the plastic tube into my ear. I flinched. This would take practice. Still, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as my father’s blows. I could get used to this. The world instantly tilted back into balance. I could hear again. It was perfect. I took the hearing aid out again and wrapped my arms around Ronan.

“Thank you.”

I sat back down and studied the hearing aid closer. The part that went behind my ear was forest green. There were tiny letters painted on the green, in an impossibly small font. Before I could read it, Ronan covered them with his hand. 

“Those were an accident. This is just my first attempt. I was planning to give you a perfect pair later." I opened my hand and looked at Ronan. He sighed. I batted my eyelashes in a comical parody of seduction. He put the hearing aid in my palm. I held it up and read the miniscule writing.

Tu es signa.

You are a miracle.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I did not bother to proofread this so if you notice any spelling or grammar mistakes and wanna let me know please do. Have a nice day! (Also go read Bee's fanfic it's amazing and she understands Adam way better than Stiefvater does and her fic totally inspired me to write this. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11401218 )


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